Veronica Staddon in an undated photo with her daughter, Gwynevere (right). Gwynevere Staddon, 16, died Sunday of a suspected drug overdose, her body found in a Port Moody Starbucks washroom. The 16-year-old Staddon had struggled with opioid use, and had been clean for about two weeks. (Photo, courtesy of Veronica Staddon) [PNG Merlin Archive] PNG

B.C.’s Representative for Children and Youth says the suspected overdose death last weekend of a Coquitlam teenager was a “tragedy that could have been prevented”.

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond said her office worked with 16-year-old Gwynevere Staddon’s family to try and find her treatment, and said her father did everything possible to properly navigate the system and ask for help.

Gwynevere Staddon, 16, died in a Port Moody Starbucks of a suspected drug overdose on Aug. 7.

She called the family’s case “a heartbreaking nightmare” that was completely preventable.

“This is a tragic case of a family that reached out for support and saw their daughter slipping away from them — and unfortunately was not given the support they needed,” she said.

On Sunday, Gwynevere’s body was found inside a Port Moody coffee shop washroom. Police found drugs and paraphernalia nearby. The toxic opioid fentanyl has not yet been ruled out in her death.

Turpel-Lafond said waitlists for residential treatment stretch “months and months” and that government supports are uncoordinated and not designed appropriately.

“This was a death that should not have happened,” she said. “This was a tragedy that could have been prevented.”

Just two weeks ago, Gwynevere and her mother, Veronica Staddon, were celebrating at the Vancouver Pride Parade. Despite the teen’s recent struggle with opioid use, she had given her mother hope by telling her she had been off heroin for a couple of weeks.

Now, Staddon has been left heartbroken and haunted by thoughts of the low-level street dealers who preyed on her child as the family struggled to find treatment.

“Everybody says I will never be the same,” Staddon said. “Everybody says I will never feel like normal again, and (this is) my new life and my new reality.”

She laments what she believes is a massive gap in affordable treatment services for youth. Staddon said Gwynevere’s behaviour changed just after Christmas as her addiction strengthened its grip.

Staddon and her ex-husband worked around the clock to find help for their daughter, but found rehabilitation facilities were “few and far between” in B.C., with limited beds and waiting lists up to two years.

“Either you have to pay a lot of money, or wait. And the waiting list is at least four to six months, which, during that time, every day there’s two people being killed,” Staddon said, referring to the 371 who died in B.C. of illicit-drug overdoses during the first half of 2016.

Nick Jansen and his girlfriend, 16-year-old Gwynevere Staddon, who died in a Port Moody Starbucks of a suspected drug overdose on Aug. 7.PNG

Fraser Health Authority spokeswoman Tasleem Juma called the teen’s death tragic and said the health authority is reviewing the case to see how it was handled.

Juma said she was unable to comment specifically on the case because of privacy restrictions, but that the teen “did access a number of different services that were wrapped around her over a number of years,” including from other government agencies.

She said Fraser Health wasn’t sure what waitlist for what service the family was speaking publicly about.

There is an average six-week wait for a youth to access one of Fraser Health’s four residential youth treatment beds for addictions, where treatment can take several weeks, said Juma.

However, if a youth is deemed “in crisis” the health authority can get them instant access to a bed outside the region, such as in Vancouver Coastal Health or beds funded by the province, in hospitals, or in private clinics, she said.

There is virtually no wait to access the authority’s six youth detox beds, as well as community supports, counselling and day programs, said Juma.

“This was a beautiful young women,” Turpel-Lafond said. “Sometimes when we think about these families, people judge these families and think there’s some type of flaw or moral failing that gets a child into this situation. I really stand with this family to say this family did everything they could. The fact is in British Columbia the support this girl needed was not there and she died.”

Coquitlam-Maillardville NDP MLA Selina Robinson said the teen’s death is heartbreaking. A former youth drug and alcohol counsellor, Robinson said she is hearing more frequently from families about long wait times and lack of help for kids struggling with drug addiction.

Months-long waits for children to get into treatment aren’t acceptable, because evidence shows you have to act quickly when kids say they are ready to get help, said Robinson.

Full in-patient treatment is important, because it gets kids away from their friends and peer group, and into an environment where they can change their lifestyle while getting help, she said.

Serious problems in B.C.’s youth mental health and addictions services have long been known by government.

An all-party committee of MLAs tackled the issue in a January report, after hearing from parents and service providers about frustrating gaps in addiction services.

It recommended all children and youth with mental health issues be assessed within one month and start receiving treatment within 30 days after that assessment.

“One consistent message the committee heard is that it is critical that urgent action be taken to improve the delivery of mental health services to children, youth, and young adults,” the NDP and Liberal MLAs wrote in their final report.

“We know the current level of mental health services in British Columbia is not meeting the demand for child and youth mental health services. While we have many services available, they are not necessarily easily accessible or well integrated as a system of care. We have heard the urgent need to address the challenges faced by children, youth, their caregivers, and mental health professionals.”

The MLAs recommended Premier Christy Clark create a new Ministry for Mental Health, to better coordinate help, but the premier did not act upon the suggestion.

The B.C. Liberal government promised in its 2013 election platform to add 500 new addiction beds in health care facilities, to provide treatment to addicts. But it has yet to actually create all those spaces.

Health Minister Terry Lake told the legislature in May that government has opened 220 beds, but must still create 280 more to reach its promised goal of 1,604 substance-abuse beds by 2017.

Health Authorities, which are debating with government about what exactly constitutes a “bed” for substance abuse, are expected to find the money within existing budgets to operating all the new spaces, which is estimated at roughly $20 to $40 million annually, said Lake.

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